Govt employees all set to stage sit-in outside Parliament House

Employees of all government departments including teachers and clerks have announced a long march and a sit-in aimed at pressing the government to keep its promises on the salary raise in the wake of the rising inflation.

Officials said that a sit-in and long march will be held at D-Chowk in front of Parliament House on February 10. The long march will be taken out from Rawalpindi to Islamabad.

Officials said that teachers and other government employees will start arriving in Islamabad from across the country from February 9 and will stage a sit- in in front of the Parliament House.

Leaders of teachers' unions Malik Amjad Mehmood, Basharat Iqbal Raja and Akhyan Gul said that the government had agreed to salary raise last year but did not implement it to date.

Read: Supreme Court ‘tough’ on govt workers

They said that the prices of petrol, gas, electricity and edibles have multiplied in one year. Immediate inflation allowance should be given to them and the government kept its promises.

Clerks Association leaders Chaudhry Mubashir Ahmed, Mirza Tauqeer said that they have presented their charter of demand to the government.

Association representatives said that ‘all ad-hoc reliefs should be merged in the basic pay, scales should be upgraded, notification of immediate inflation allowance should be issued, temporary and contract employees should be regularised besides appointments on new vacancies.

Central Vice President of Punjab SES Teachers Association Shafiq Bhalolia said that teachers and employees will start arriving in Rawalpindi Islamabad on February 9 and there will be a long march on February 10 in Islamabad besides a sit-in. Women employees will also participate in the long march.

They further added; if the government resorted to violence, a permanent sit-in will be called and the sit-in will not end till the demands are approved.

On the other hand, the district administration of Islamabad has taken steps to deal with the participants of the sit-in.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 7^th, 2022.